Fourth attempt at this post now and if this still doesn't flow, I'll just drop it and pick it up again at another time.
Except that I don't like to leave things unfinished (as much as I can) and I'd much prefer to write about my breather here at Orchard Hotel as soon as I can.
It's been a long time since I last stayed at this property, and whilst I had been to the lobby for meetings once or twice, I didn't go upstairs, nor did I stay there.
That is, until this time.
And I was (admittedly) in for a pleasant surprise.
Gone are the chinoiserie type of furniture that used to take center place of the room. There are no more bright reds nor elaborately carved heavy wooden furniture.
Instead everything has been replaced by clean, sleek lines, and even though the television still marks the center of the room, it's now a flat screen with a huge work desk right underneath.
There's the wardrobe, the bedside tables, the coffee counter and the fridge.
Then there's the armchair with a coffee table right by its side.
I fell in love with this armchair.
It's the kind of chair that looks compact, streamlined and neat, but is wide enough that you can sit comfortably cross-legged or curled up on your side.
Strangely enough, I didn't get to use it until the late afternoon when I came back to the room from lunch and a small little bout of grocery shopping at Cold Storage opposite the road.
It was a lovely lunch we had, by the way.
Out of all the options and places we could go to- Liat Towers, Shaw Lido, ION, Ngee Ann City, Paragon, Far East Plaza or Lucky Plaza- we decided to have Turkish food at Far East Plaza.
And The Mediterranean Deli Turk- in the basement of this strata mall shopping center- did not disappoint.
We ordered two dishes- one a lamb kebab (I think it's a kebab) that came served with fresh, cutely chopped cold salad and warm butter rice, and the other, a chicken with grilled tomatoes and a huge dollop of yogurt over a platterful of warm, mushy, very tasty, moreish bread.
In fact, so good was the food that we went back the day after for the very same exact dishes, and no regrets had we.
A meal like this makes one feel rather full, what with the vegetables and the yogurt, and so after the first time we decided to skip dinner, going straight for late-night dessert at this place in Palais Renaissance instead.
French Fold- on the first floor- is one of those places whose decor blends in with the surroundings so well that you will (accidentally) pass by if you're not looking for it, or not paying enough attention.
But tonight I was here for one thing, and one thing only.
Their ice cream.
Because their ice cream comes from Birds of Paradise.
Which, (unlike the outlets at East Coast Road and Changi JEWEL) here at French Fold there was no queue.
But coming just for two scoops of ice cream in a place known for their crepes made French-style didn't seem quite right, so we had a savory crepe as well.
I'm glad we skipped dinner and went straight for dessert.
This left me a lot of room at the breakfast buffet next morning.
It didn't feel like I ate a lot- I went for a slice of toast, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, a bit of bee hoon noodles, cold salad, a small little slice of butter cake, an apple pastry, and two cute little pieces of colorful nyonya kueh- but it was filling, and breakfast happily lasted me all the way through an afternoon errand, and the subsequent long bus ride, until dinner time.
One thing about the breakfast buffet here is their variety.
Yes, you have the usual offerings of toast, pastries, cereals, eggs, dim sum, salads, yogurt, juices and milks, but there're also the cuisines both local and international, and next day I found myself going for an omelet with everything inside, a couple of hash browns, some kale salad, fruit, noodles cooked local style, and (because I couldn't resist it) two pieces of boing boing chwee kueh.
The omelet actually made me feel rather full.
So much so that I'd thought of skipping lunch, but then it felt kind of silly, so we went to Canton Paradise at Wisma Atria for a bowl of dumplings in pork bone soup, a bamboo basket of xiao long baos, salted egg paus, and a plate of chicken pieces fried with small, spicy chilies.
We were too stuffed to have dinner though, and so- unlike the previous day where we had a filet of pan fried salmon from Wild Honey and a serving of self-bought parma ham- tonight we decided six pieces of salmon belly sushi would do.
You know, it's been a while since I went for this breather at Orchard Hotel, and although I cannot recollect much of what it was we did over the weekend, there're other things I remember.
There's the view, for instance, which, this time round, from the room brought me a clear, unblocked view of Orchard Towers and her surrounding condos, whilst on the other side of the hotel from the windows of the lift landing, I got a clear, unblocked view of Orange Grove Road, and all the pretty little houses beyond.
But somehow, what I do recollect, I think, is probably more of the food.
Like the sausages that we bought from the supermarket at Tanglin Mall and cooked in the Little Black Grill.
Like the Norwegian salmon which we bought from the same supermarket and grilled in the Little Black Grill.
And the special little cake bought from Cafe de Muse that we had for dessert after our six pieces of sushi were over.
